Danthebluegrassman's Connections Throw Last Minute Curve
By William F. Reed
May 3, 2002

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 3, 2002) - The surprising last-minute entry of Danthebluegrassman in Saturday's 128th Kentucky Derby (GI) meant that Thursday (May 2) trainer Bob Baffert, no stranger to controversy, had to spend most of his time explaining and defending the decision, which knocked Windward Passage out of the 20-horse field.

The sharp-eyed watchdogs of the media were totally unaware that Baffert was training Danthebluegrassman at Churchill Downs, and Baffert didn't say anything about it because he wanted to wait until owner Mike Pegram's arrival Tuesday (Apr. 30) night.

When Baffert told Pegram that the chestnut son of Pioneering, out of the mare Stay With Bruce, liked the Churchill track much better than he did the one at Santa Anita, where he finished eighth and last in the Apr. 6 Santa Anita Derby (GI), Pegram agreed with Baffert's assessment that "We might as well take a shot."

At no time did Baffert give fellow trainer Steve Asmussen, the trainer of Windward Passage, an inkling of what he was thinking. So Asmussen proceeded for days on the theory that Windward Passage, who has earned $100,000 in graded stakes races, would make the Derby field. Some of the owners from Team Valor had even flown in to attend the draw.

But when Baffert dropped Danthebluegrassman and his $108,750 in graded stakes earnings into the mix, Windward Passage was blown out of the Derby starting gate, meaning that Asmussen's only Derby horse will be Private Emblem, winner of the Arkansas Derby (GII).

Asmussen didn't say much publicly, but he had to be seething inside. He felt that Windward Passage, who won a 1 1/16ths-mile race last year at Churchill, had a legitimate chance to win a Derby that has no intimidating "super horse." Besides that, he and Team Valor had the unenviable task of canceling airplane, hotel, rental-car, and restaurant reservations for those who didn't want to come in for a Derby without Windward Passage.

In his defense, Baffert said he felt no ethical obligation to apologize for not tipping off Asmussen to what he was thinking. Had Assmussen known earlier than Wednesday (May 1) afternoon what Baffert was considering, he and the owners at least could have prepared themselves for the blow that came just before entries were taken and the post positions drawn.

"Every trainer needs to be on top of his business," Baffert said. "He (Asmussen) could have looked at the earnings list and figured out the possible scenarios. It's his responsibility, not mine."

The truth be told, a lot more probably will be bet on Danthebluegrassman than would have been wagered on Windward Passage -- not necessarily because he's the better horse, but because he's named for Dan Chandler, a son of the late A.B. "Happy" Chandler, a two-time governor of Kentucky who also had stints as a U.S. Senator and commissioner of baseball.

In the early 1950s, Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp gave Dan a scholarship, mostly because of his close friendship with Happy. As a sophomore, he was a member of the unbeaten (25-0) Wildcat team of 1953-'54. The next season, he supported Rupp when several players threatened to quit because the coach took away their complimentary tickets for a game against DePaul.

"He said quite positively that he was concerned over what appeared to be a lost set of values," Chandler said years later. "He told the players that we didn't have winning on our minds, and that our punishment would be the loss of the DePaul tickets."

At the end, it was the team, not Rupp, that blinked. But once that problem was settled, Chandler found himself in the middle of another brouhaha. Before the Alabama game in UK's Memorial Coliseum, Tide substitute Jim Brogan dared Dan to step over the center line during warmups. He did, touching off a free-for-all that involved several players from both sides before the police restored order.

It still ranks as the only time in UK hoops history that the Wildcats got into a fight BEFORE the game began.

After his graduation, Dan decided to follow his famous father into politics. But everytime he ran for office, he was soundly beaten. In early 1972, Chandler's luck was running so badly that he lost his wife (through divorce), his money (through an ill-fated fast-food chicken scheme), and even some of his good name (through what Dan calls "an accidental brush" with the IRS).

His life began to turn around in 1974, when an old friend, Cliff Perlman, called and asked Dan if he would like to come to work for him as an executive with Caesar's Palace. At first, Dan wasn't sure. After all, he was the son of a God-fearing, law-abiding, scripture-quoting politician who didn't believe in drinking, smoking, or gambling.

Yet Chandler took the job because he had few other prospects, and moved to Vegas with the idea of returning to Kentucky when he had made enough money. Today, however, he's still very much a part of the Vegas scene. Often flashing the famous Chandler smile and remembering the names of both billionaires and busboys, Chandler has glad-handed and back-slapped his way through life. He came to love Vegas because he's accepted for what he is instead of what his father wanted him to be.

"There is no question that my philosophy of life is 100 per cent from Daddy's thinking and teaching," Chandler says. "Daddy used to say, 'I hope you have all my friends and don't inheirit any of my enemies.' Well, I've made friends in Vegas that he didn't have. You've got to earn your own."

When Dapper Dan (as he's known in Vegas) met Pegram and Baffert, who had won the 1998 Derby with Real Quiet, it was inevitable they would bond. Pegram has an unquenchable thirst for Coors Light beer, gambling and living the good life. Knowing a high roller when he saw one, Chandler made sure that he became Pegram's main man in Vegas, and Pegram expressed his gratitude by naming a horse after Chandler.

After making their decision, Pegram and Baffert enlisted the services of jockey Kent Desormeaux, who was left mountless for the Derby when U S S Tinosa failed to make the field because of insuffient earnings in graded stakes races. Desormeaux won the Derby for them with Real Quiet.

They also invited Chandler to come in and do the honors of hanging Danthebluegrassman's name on the board below his selected post position, which is No. 17. They either didn't know or care that since 1900, no horse has won the Derby from that post. Yet Dan flashed that famous Chandler smile as he waddled -- he's gained a lot of weight since his playing days at UK -- to and from the post-position board.

The "experts" give Danthebluegrassman no more of a chance than they would have given Windward Passage. In his eight-race career, Pegram's colt has three wins and three seconds, including a graded-stakes win in the Jan. 12 Golden Gate Derby under jockey David Flores, who'll ride Essence of Dubai Saturday.

"His credentials are at least as good as half the field," Baffert said. "He's been training well here and he likes the track. There are some wierd things in this Derby, so you might as well take a shot." Even if that shot puts to death another colt's once-in-a-lifetime chance of running in the Kentucky Derby.

Native Kentuckian William F. "Billy" Reed has been a sports writer in various capacities for 42 years and has missed covering the Kentucky Derby a mere two times since 1966. He has been a high-profile sports writer in Kentucky for the Commonwealth's two largest daily newspapers, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader and was a national columnist for Sports Illustrated, covering among other sports, Thoroughbred horse racing and college basketball. Reed currently pens a column for the Louisville Sports Report , contrbiutes features to the Keeneland program and will be, among varied other assignments, filing Kentucky Derby installments on www.kentuckyderby.com.

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